`DMK ideology inspired LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi`

New Delhi: A top LTTE leader Kumaran Pathmanathan has said that the ideology of the DMK might have, to a large extent, inspired V Prabhakaran to plan and execute the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Pathmanathan, former international arms procurer for the LTTE and the right hand man of its chief Prabhakaran, said DMK’s ideology and its anti-Brahmin outlook were one of the main reasons that drove the group’s leader into the killing.

Speaking to a news channel, Pathmanathan apologised to India for Prabhakaran`s "mistake" of assassinating Rajiv Gandhi.

Pathmanathan said, "I want to say to the Indian people and especially to the Gandhi family...I want to apologise for Prabhakaran`s mistake. Please forgive us. We beg you....Sorry for all this. We know the feelings of the son (Rahul) of Rajiv Gandhi....How the father and his daughter are attached (reference to Rajiv`s daughter Priyanka)".

He said Tamils in Sri Lanka should be helped to live as humans as "we have already paid a high price. We don`t have anything to lose".

Patmanathan also alleged that some of the DMK MPs and MLAs were in close contact with the LTTE and that DMK chief M Karunanidhi had used the LTTE card from time to time.

When asked whether AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa was ever a target for the LTTE, Patmanathan said if the rebel group got a chance they would have killed her.